Taken to the Cleaners
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: A mistake lands one of Roanapur's common criminals into the chainsaw of Frederica Sawyer, the Cleaner. Rated M for implied violence.


Nope, still don't own Black Lagoon.

Enjoy.

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Taken to the Cleaners.

Tony Wong had never told anybody in his life that he was claustrophobic, especially in a shit-hole like Roanapur where if you told anyone your weakness then someone - a supposed ally or even an enemy - would be more than happy to use it against you. For instance, someone wanting his job, his role in Chang's organisation though it was doubtful he'd have it for much longer, might shove him into a dark closet and keep them there for a few minutes before they turned him into Swiss Cheese.

Had someone figured it out on their own, or had they just shoved him into wherever he was now for ease? Wong didn't know. It was bad enough he was in an enclosed space, but he was being moved around in total darkness so roughly he barely even needed to worry about the fact he was in something somebody else was moving around. He didn't know if he was inside a large luggage case or in some kind of crate, and if he were honest with himself he didn't really care. All he knew was he was having trouble with his breathing, and his heart was beating so fast in his chest his hands and arms were shaking while he could see nothing. It was so dark, and the air was so hot, but whether or not that was because he was panting so hard and sucking it all up there was little left, he didn't know.

He had also been stripped down to his boxes and on his left foot was a sock, but otherwise Tony was completely undressed, and he had something stuffed into his mouth and so it was hard for him to breath, never mind speak. Whatever it was stuffed into his mouth was hard, and it filled the entirety of his mouth and he could feel something like tape over his face and lips so he couldn't get it out. What could he do if he did, screaming wouldn't help? He was screaming in his mind already though he was doing his best to keep himself calm, though it wasn't working.

He had other things to worry about because he knew in a few hours, if not sooner, he was not going to be alive for much longer for he had a terribly horrible idea he knew where he was being taken.

For a long time now Tony Wong had been a minor member of Changs' mob. His duties hadn't been truly important for him to warrant a higher place in the organisation, but Wong hadn't really cared since he had a position and that was enough for him. Wong was one of a few in the underworld in Roanapur who was content with where he was simply because he knew there was no point trying to plot his way into a higher echelon of power though he did occasionally make a few attempts and just shrugged his shoulders with grace when it didn't happen, or he did obtain a higher position like he had when he had become a collector responsible for collecting cash from businesses, though he did make the occasional plays both remind everyone he was there and that he was like everyone and was as ambitious as the next individual else so no one looked at him and thought to themselves that he was complacent and didn't really care, which was dangerous enough in this shit-pile of a city, but more importantly to prove to Chang he was capable in all positions though it never really worked.

Truthfully the real reason he was content to spend such a long time in minor roles in Chang's organisation was simple. He knew his limitations and he wasn't particularly interested in becoming the next kingpin in the city because he didn't want the hassle. He didn't want to make the same never-ending schemes Chang and that Russkie bitch Balalaika got up too, nor did he want to become a target.

He had grown up in Roanapur, every day he had heard stories of someone trying to make it big, only to be cut down to size by more powerful criminals in the city. When he himself had joined the Triads, Wong had reached the positions he had so he would appear like everyone else but was content with what he had.

Still, he had made some mistakes, and he knew why he was in this…thing.

As he was jostled from side to side, snapping him out of his thoughts, hating the darkness for clouding most of his senses although the current mess he was in had certainly done a lot to augment his other senses - Wong had heard occasionally over the years loss of sight amplified the other senses, but he had never imagined one day that it was definitely true since that type of knowledge was the kind that was provable to someone when they had practically lost their own sight - Wong remembered how he had gotten into this mess in the first place.

For years he had worked for Chang either as an enforcer, a collector, or the second in command or the leader of one of the gangs directly under Chang's control, and if he was honest he was okay with his career and had no real desire to rise any higher unless he had no choice since he didn't want to become a target for someone else which was why he had spent so long as both an enforcer and as a collector who collected the proceeds from the businesses under the protection of Chang's organisation, though he had no doubt in his mind there had been someone waiting in the wings at every point in his career. Knowing his luck his role had already been taken or given to someone else.

Wong didn't really care about that, it was a part of the ordinary life of Roanapur; look at Shenhua. While the Taiwanese assassin was gorgeous to look at, Wong and everyone else knew better than to just assume she was a delicate Chinese doll. She wasn't; she was vicious in a fight, and more than once she had proven it. There were graveyards out there with corpses six feet under showing signs of being slashed into taffy by her knives. Every day she killed more people.

Likewise Balalaika and Wong's own boss, Chang, had both had predecessors that had eventually been deposed for a variety of reasons. Wong knew that unless he was exceptionally lucky tonight his life expectancy was going to plummet like a stone. Wong had a fucking good idea where he was being taken tonight which meant his fate was preordained. However, his mind was trying to decipher how in the name of god Chang had discovered what he was doing.

For a long time now Wong had been secretly taking small amounts of cash from the payments - not enough; he knew Chang personally counted all of the cash from the businesses under the protection of his organisation, as well as the cash he received from his other operations. It wasn't much; he only slipped a couple of dollars from the collections here and there and he was always careful to pay Chang back as soon as he could. It was nothing nobody else was doing themselves - he knew several others in the organisation were taking money out of Chang's coffers, though he wasn't sure about the Russian mob led by Balalaika, though if there were then he would be surprised given how fanatical the Russians were to their leader, Wong at the time thought he was getting away with it.

As a result, later on, Wong had become more greedy and the temptation had proven to be stronger than it should have been and instead of keeping a check over his desire for more cash he had gone ahead, against his better judgement and he had stolen far more than he should have done. He took a couple of dollars more, and then a couple more, and then another couple more. On and on it went, until he was taking far more than she should have done. After he had begun to steal more amounts of cash, Chang had slowly begun to notice, and like all mob bosses, he did not like it whenever one of his underlings stole from him and his organisation. The only problem Chang had was finding out who had done it. Another mob boss would have just accused someone and then killed them or more likely had someone else do the dirty work for them before having the body either dissolved in lye or buried so far beneath the ground no-one but an archaeologist from the future could find them.

Not Chang.

A sudden jostle of whatever he was packed inside made him bash his head in the side, and all thoughts of Chang which he had been using to block off the effects of the claustrophobia were dropped, and they were replaced quickly with desperation. HE HAD TO GET OUT OF HERE! His mind was screaming as the full-on effects of the claustrophobia was driving him insane. After a few minutes of throwing his body, or attempting to throw it against the sides since there wasn't a great deal of room in whatever he was inside, Wong cried out through the gag stuffed into his mouth.

Eventually, he realised there was nothing he could do, and nothing he was doing while trying to escape this cage he was in was doing any good was working. When he realised that he needed a few minutes of breathing in the air, hot with the stink of his sweat and already stale. That was a horrible thought. How long could he stay here before his brain suffered from oxygen loss?

Quickly trying to centre himself to avoid such a horrible fate like suffocation, Wong returned his mind to the thoughts of Chang.

Wong had dealt with his own fair share of bosses over the years. Chang was fairer than most, but his quiet, thoughtful side hid a man who was manipulative and cunning at the same time. Wong knew from hard experience another mobster would have just simply begun accusing others while conducting the investigation into who had been so unthinkably stupid to steal from them so noisily it would alert the thief to the fact their stupidity had been discovered.

Wong hadn't really paid much attention though he should have done, and now it was going to cost him his life. But he still wished to know how Chang had found out. He didn't know if Chang had paid someone to find out the truth while promising a cut, but somehow he didn't think so. It wasn't exactly Chang's style, and he didn't particularly like airing his laundry about the place. No, he wouldn't bring someone in to discover the truth since they could betray Chang and he would not want that. He'd found a different method. The only ones Wong could think of as he tried to concentrate on a lot more than his claustrophobia in this cramped…thing was that Chang had infiltrated his small gang and simply spied on him since he couldn't truly trust anybody else.

That would make sense, but the only problem was he had been doing it for months now. Wong genuinely had no idea if Chang had detected what he was doing long before he had begun taking more amounts than he should have done, and was just waiting for the right moment to strike, or if he had just found out and had arranged for Tony to be made an example of quickly about what would happen to those who stole from him. If it was the latter, Chang was an even bigger bastard than some others might give the otherwise mild-mannered Triad leader who used that facade to mask the cunning he used every day.

Suddenly Wong felt whatever it was he was packed inside like a sardine inside a tin can be dropped down on a hard surface roughly, and he was jostled from side to side. But he was more shaken than hurt in these cramped confines that were driving him crazy. Suddenly he heard something like a zip being opened. A zip?

Just as he was musing what it could mean, he suddenly fell out of the tight confines of his cage into a place filled with bright light. The effects of going from total blackness to a place that was full of light made Wong immediately close his eyes for a minute before he blinked them rapidly before he was able to focus. What he saw made him almost piss himself. He was inside a dull long room where the walls were covered with splatters of blood that were in different shades of red, some of them were so dark and sunken into the walls that it looked like they were the spots of a Dalmatian. But the most horrifying thing was the sight of a figure, a woman by the look of it judging from her figure, covered from head to toe in white, or light green coveralls. The bright light made it difficult for him to tell, but he pushed that thought aside as he took in her appearance. The most horrifying things about the woman's appearance as far as Wong was concerned was the fact her entire head was covered with a full face white mask. Her goggles which covered her eyes glinted unblinkingly in the harsh lighting of the room. But while Wong's eyes were mostly drawn to the mask, it was the woman's blood splattered apron which caught his eye.

He knew who she was.

Frederica Sawyer, the Cleaner.

The thought alone paralysed him so he didn't hear whoever had brought him here to be killed by the Cleaner but he did hear them when they closed the door with a slam, though he had caught the words "mince" and "chop". Sawyer walked out of sight of Wong, but she returned quickly, carrying a chainsaw.

Wong's eyes widened and he tried to scream, tried to beg, but he knew it was useless. Indeed the Cleaner walked towards him, toying with him as she seemed to take her time with starting the chainsaw. Eventually, she got it working, and the growl of the tool echoed hideously in the air. He tried to crawl away from her even though his hands and feet had been tied so tightly together he could hardly get any circulation in them though it didn't matter now since the Cleaner would see to it the circulation of blood wouldn't be a problem. But it was hopeless - the Cleaner just simply moved faster towards him, the sounds of the howl from the chainsaw now so loud it hurt his ears.

Wong screamed again through the gag as Sawyer walked towards him. He was still screaming even as she swung the sharp teeth of the saw into his leg….


End file.
